News, Opinion, and Media Analysis on Cincinnati, Ohio and the World From a Unique Perspective

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Bunbury Musc Festival Coming to Sawyer Point in 2012

Soapbox's Sean Rhiney has an interview with Bill Donabedian, managing director of Fountain Square and co-founder of the Midpoint Music Festival (along with Rhiney), and they discuss Donabedian's plans to hold a music festival called Bunbury in July of 2012 along the Ohio River at Sawyer Point.

Plans are for a "Lollapaloza" or "Pitchfork" type of festival which would have a combination of the best of local music and national acts. Donabedian's ideal would be to have groups like "The National" and "Flaming Lips". I'd presume he'd include more locals along the lines of Bad Veins, the Seedy Seeds, and Wussy, but that's just my speculation.

I love the idea. I really hope it can give the right mix of national, regional, and local acts. I also am pleased that it doesn't appear to be conflicting with any other big local indie music event. It does appear to be occurring during the World Choir games taking place in Cincinnati in 2012. I don't know if that is intended or not. With a large group of people already here, that is good, but there could be some logistical issues.

Bunbury would no matter what be a great way for Midpoint to market to music fans and get them to come to that event the following September. Other music venues or events could also find opportunity getting their names known to fans and music acts by helping out (Southgate House, MOTR, Northside Tavern, Mayday, and Comet come to mind.)

I look forward to hearing more details on how the festival will work and who the team will be to get it done.

Can't wait for this thing. Interested to see what national acts they bring in, which for me, the National and Flaming Lips would be perfect headliners. I don't like that they're calling it "Cincinnati's Lollapalooza." There's no way that Bunbury, in its first year, can bring the types of acts that are playing Lolla - at least not the huge names. Unless they do have the funding for that. Pitchfork consistently has great lineups but nowhere near 100 bands, which Bunbury is supposed to have. My expectations are already huge for this thing but I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be a more glorified MidPoint with the majority artists being local. Either way, I wish this fest the best of luck. We need something like this every year at Sawyer Point.